After a fresh installation of debian xfce4 edition, wifi ssid were not available. I wonder if at installation iwlwifi should not come stock with the iwlwifi driver. Preferably asking at installation if it is wanted, or at least state at installation to the person installing the system that this will be needed for proper function of the wifi links. A simple mention of iwlwifi driver missing is not much for a newcomer to linux.

Even though I am not naive linux user with another distribution I had to install the system two times, before catching the issue. Isn't that too much ask for a newbie installing the distribution for the first time making sense of a simple mention that iwlwifi driver will be missing?

Usually, when someone intends to install a brand new OS, he/she is expected to read some documents about it, just to have a clear picture. Debian does not endorse non-free software, in any way including non-free firmware.That said, you have solved your own problem. Now do some reading, mentioned above.

francois.e wrote:Even though I am not naive linux user with another distribution I had to install the system two times, before catching the issue. Isn't that too much ask for a newbie installing the distribution for the first time making sense of a simple mention that iwlwifi driver will be missing?

To be frank about your question, Debian is not trying to be a distro for newbies. And besides, we are just users here, not the Debian developers. If you are serious about wanting to help, and you think it appropriate, you should file a wishlist bug on the installer.

The information about firmware is in the installation manual and/or release notes. Many people skip the documentation because they think it's a waste of time. Many people think debian should be like every other linux distro. I'm not sure, but I think it is very unique.

Firmware is not a "driver" and it's good to understand the difference, right from the start. You can learn more about it in the wiki.https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware